 The Clarinet BBoard
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Author: Lelia Loban ★2017
Date: 2009-11-26 12:20
Sometimes the best clarinet is one of the worst. I still own my first clarinet, a 1957 wooden Conn Director that my dad bought for me new, when I first started grade school band. He wanted to buy me a good instrument as an incentive and he chose that one with love. He didn't know that C. G. Conn had died, his widow had sold the company (but not the "C.G." part of its name) and the new Conns were all student-grade and not much good. Mine has serious, built-in intonation problems, including 12ths so wide you could herd a rhino through them. As an adult, I bought better clarinets, but I've kept that one, and always will keep it, for sentimental reasons.
Right now, I'm using that old Conn for regular practice. I stowed my bass winds and the other clarinets out of harm's way because my house is under construction. (We're replacing all the windows except the ones in the basment and two on the ground floor that we'd already replaced a few years ago. The old windows, from 1947, are steel-framed, with rust, multiple layers of peeling paint and after-market storm windows and screens that don't fit properly.) With construction in every room of the house except the basement, old books and fragile objects stowed and all the furniture that's normally near the windows moved, this place looks like the county dump. Because of construction delays, some due to weather, we're living with this mess for close to three weeks now, instead of the few days we expected. (We hope the crew will come back and get the heavy work done on Monday. Then Kevin and I will have 14 windows to finish, some with paint and some with stain.)
I'm glad I decided to use my most familiar old clarinet during this chaos and to practice familiar music. Though it's far from my best instrument, I'm playing better on that old Conn than I'd been playing on better clarinets. When I'm distracted, I can slip right back into the familiar, childhood work-arounds, automatically lipping some notes up and others down to compensate for the built-in wonkiness. Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. Sometimes, it breeds security.
Lelia
http://www.scoreexchange.com/profiles/Lelia_Loban
To hear the audio, click on the "Scorch Plug-In" box above the score.
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Author: tictactux ★2017
Date: 2009-11-26 12:53
Lelia,
> Familiarity doesn't always breed contempt. Sometimes, it breeds security.
Yeah, the good is the enemy of the better, my mom always says. Because it is familiar and dependable. In a way, it's like coming home. Just close your eyes, open the case and get a faint whiff of that hot humid summer back in 1974...
--
Ben
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Author: Ralph Katz
Date: 2009-11-26 13:52
Always playing on the same instrument, mouthpiece, and reed brand/strength can put you in a rut that can be hard to get out of. The simple act of playing on something different can usually open up new worlds of listening and flexibility. I just dug out my cigar box of old mouthpieces, and have been really surprised at what wonderful sounds some of these crusty old things can make.
Good luck on the construction project! (send photos)
Post Edited (2009-11-26 15:23)
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Author: Wicked Good ★2017
Date: 2009-12-09 01:01
I sometimes regret having sold my first clarinet, a Vito Reso-Tone 3 from 1969-1970 or so. Not because it was a great clarinet, but because it was my first. I have since played on R13s since 1977, with a Vito V40 mixed in for outdoor work.
Recently in an orchestral Christmas concert, the other clarinetist and I played on Vito Dazzlers ... one red, one white, with the parts mixed so that we had "candy cane" clarinets ... purely for show. (The audience really enjoyed them.)
Since the Dazzlers are just funky-colored Reso-Tone 3s, playing them really brought back some neat childhood musical memories, as well as long-forgotten muscle memories. It was a hoot, and as I discovered, Reso-Tone 3s are really good, sturdy, dependable clarinets with decent keywork and intonation. What a nice surprise.
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